Coloured Africans . . .

Ryland Fisher is a really nice guy. No, I mean a good human being. I should not be so surprised by how genuinely nice this guy is, the truly gifted are often down to earth and nice. The guy responds to email from strangers and accepts invitation to tea, etc. I have previously invited him to this space, an invitation that stands. But this post is not about Ryland. It is however about a subject he holds dear and one on which he writes eloquently.

What does or can one mean when one declares to be Coloured? When one says I am a Coloured person, is there anything one could be saying (in the South African context) other than - "I have white in me"? Does and can being Coloured have any other meaning let alone content. By this I do not judge being Coloured neither do I make less or more of it than say being White or Black. I am finding it absolutely fascinating that the debate, conversation and possibly a solution to the modern South African race issue is happening and is likely to come from the Western Cape - Ryland's home. By the time the liberation organisations were unbanned and the leaders were released from prison; people of the Cape were primarily Black. Those were the days of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM). Coming from the then Western Transvaal, I was pleasantly surprised when I was in Cape Town, to meet people I have grown up referring to as Coloured, calling themselves Black.

All of that has changed now. In fact it all changed when the Nobel Peace laureat, one Frederick Willem De Klerk, yes the one of "only allow a set quota of blacks to white universities" fame, yes him; started campaigning for votes in the cape flats. The flats have not been the same since. FW spread the gospel and the gospel converted the people - how can anyone forget the deacons? The Marais, the Morkels? Anyway, I digress - the good people of the cape flats were pursuaded not to be Black because that would mean the end of them, their heritage and traditions. Moreover, the Black are going to make life difficult for the Coloured people and the Indian people and the White people unless of course the Coloured people voted for the National Party. All that is a long time ago. What the previous government of 40 years or so did with the notion of colour is too painful to rehash and not particularly important for the present purposes.

What does it mean to be Coloured today, other than that you have white in you? And what if you have white in you, what does it mean? By the way if we were to shake a good number of the Black family trees, a good number of Whites are very likely to fall out. I remember being at Groote Schuur hospital, being treated for some auto-immune illness and the professor being quite fascinated that I had this particular affliction when for all intends and purposes I am a Black man. He was so excited by this odd discovery that he summoned a large group of 5th year medical students to come note this oddity. What can I say, doctors sometimes are not the most sensitive of people and their social savvy sucks at best; but when you not well they help make you better even when you are Black and have a White illness.

So much for the purity of lineage and how we should not mix. Other than as a function of political manipulation, oppression and most importantly consciousness; what does being White or Black or Coloured mean. Dr Mangcu writes a lot more intelligently than I can on this identity issue, so does Ryland. That is why I am somewhat surprised by Ryland's use of "African" in his latest offering on the coloured identity debate. He uses African as a denotation of Black people as in those who are not coloured i.e those who do not assert to have white in them. I cannot agree with this denotation. The meaning of African that I am partial to is the one contemplated by Robert Sobukwe. This term is used in general terms as the term "Black" is used in the Black consciousness thoughts and traditions. In the greater scheme of things and as more eloquently argued by Sobukwe, we are all African. More specifically we are all South Africans. To use the term as Ryland used it would lead back to the politics of origins and even then the Coloured folks are no less African. For the Coloured people to be black is a matter of consciousness and deliberate exercise in identity. More on this process of self identity I recommend Dr Mangcu's book - To the Brink.

Ryland's declaration of being black is a matter of consciousness which entitles him to no more and no less of the benefits of being a South African. I am Black and an African on the same basis. Some of my fellow Africans are White and others have White in them. The difference is that of context and time. Being Coloured no longer and should no longer mean that one is entitled to work the tills at OK's while being Black means one gets to pack the shelves and sweep the floors at OK's. The victory of the people of this country over the government of racial divisions and oppression will similarly be negated by swopping the mop for the till based on some tenous notion of identity. This is the beauty of a plural society; being Coloured, Black, White is just one of those identity things that one is entitled to. We are as a common denominator South African citizens and are deserving on that basis and that basis alone of the protection of the constitution of the land. This is so regardless of the amount of white one has in one; even if there is no white in one. Similarly, we are entitle to declare whatever identity and affiliation we choose.